Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do
by Kailorien
Summary: Leah has had enough of Pack life and decides to move on. But something unexpected happens in which her opinions about her place in the Pack and her relationship with Embry make her reconsider just where she is in life. Fanfic Request @ LJ: Blackpack


"Don't shit me Embry! I've had enough! Screw Sam! Screw the Pack! I can't do this anymore!"  
Large arms wrestled Leah and pulled her into a tight embrace. She struggled against them, but even strong as she was, she couldn't fight the rage that battled within her, nor the powerful arms of the man who held her.

"Leah, common' we're all in this together. Come now, it'll be ok. I know its tough but…"

"Tough?" Leah balked and finally pulled herself free, "Embry Call, you wouldn't know tough if it hit you up the side of your over-grown head," she scowled, "It's settled. I'm leaving' tomorrow."

"Leah you can't…"

She spun around to glare at him, her eyes blazing, "Don't tell me what I can't do."

Embry watched helplessly as she turned from him and marched down the steps of the Clearwater's porch. Leah had always been a determined sort of girl. She would call it stubborn, but Embry knew better. There was tenacity, a fire inside of her that he saw whenever she looked at Sam or looked at the rest of her pack brothers. The only time he ever saw a glimpse of the old Leah, was when she looked at Emily and her little brother and he only ever saw sadness in her eyes then.

It was a cold night, Leah's breath turned into clouds as she stormed through the forest, but she didn't feel the chill… sometimes she wished she could. Her heart pounded in her chest, so loudly it echoed in her ears.  
She needed to get away from this place, she needed to run.  
Where? She didn't know. But she needed to escape the guilty looks from Sam, the judgemental glares from Paul, even Seth, her baby brother's pitiful glances made her want to scream.  
She resisted the temptation to phase. She had to stop doing that. If she ever had a chance for normalcy she needed to have a clear head, as much as she would miss taunting and teasing them all to insanity, as much as she would miss the freedom of running over tussocks of sweet green grasses underneath the sun and moon, wild; that would have to all stop if she ever wanted to be normal again.  
Somewhere, an owl hooted and Leah was pulled from her internal thoughts to become aware of her surroundings. It was quiet. The gentle night breeze whispered amongst the trees and their inhabitants peered out of their hiding places to look at the forests intruder.  
Something was amiss. Leah felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise causing goose bumps.  
A voice screamed inside of her, 'RUN', but she pushed it down, strangled it.  
Her lips pulled up in a sneer. She refused to give in. She would not phase.

"You can come out whoever you are!" she called into the darkness, her arms crossed defiantly across her chest.

Silence.

"Embry, this won't work. You're going to have to be better than the boogieman to scare me into changing," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The sickly sweet scent of death reached her nose and suddenly she felt eyes boring into the back of her neck. Immediately, she shifted into a defensive position, her brown eyes peering into the dark wood around her. The flash of orange hair and a low hiss confirmed her suspicions.

Panic was not normally in Leah's nature. But she knew who her stalker was, and she also knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat her alone. She breathed evenly, willing herself to calm. Perhaps the bloodsucker didn't know that she had become a part of the Pack since she was here last.

Bravely, Leah took a step towards the figure crouching in the shadows, "Come out. I know you're there."

There was a high-pitched hiss, as the vampire sauntered slowly into the moonlight.

"Well, well, look what we have here," the vampire said amused, her voice sounded as light as little bells tinkling in the breeze.

Leah raised her head proudly, looking the blood-thirsty and revenge stricken vampire in the eye. "Yes, take a good look Victoria, it may be your last." She sneered.

Victoria was caught unawares for the moment. She did not expect her victim to know her name. This set the red-haired beauty on edge, but she let out a screeching chuckle, covering her unease.

"My last?" she laughed, "And just how do you plan that human?"

The corner of Leah's lips rose in a small malicious smile.

"Firstly, I plan to rip your throat from your neck," Leah relaxed her body language, casually breaking a long twig from the tree she stood against, "Then I'll take great pleasure in tearing you to pieces and bit by bit, stack your remains in a nice little pile of rock for me to set alight and spend my night roasting marshmallows over your ashes." She waved the long twig in the vampire's direction. "See? _Perfect!_"

Victoria shifted her weight uneasily; she looked like a jack-in-the-box, ready to spring. Her eyes darted to the edge of the woods, whether looking for more of her enemy or for a means of escape, Leah wasn't sure.

Okay, so she'd phase this one last time, she couldn't not do her duty to her people and the people of Forks and let the bloodsucker pass unchallenged, could she?

"Don't go Victoria; there is only one of me. Surely you're not scared of a little tussle?" Leah persuaded, her eyes dancing and then she let out a low menacing growl.

It happened quicker than a blink of an eye, even taking Victoria by surprise.

Victoria reeled backwards and crouched, ready to spring, her black eyes wide with both shock and confusion as she looked over the large grey wolf that now stood, ready to attack, before her.

Leah gave a mocking bark; if she was human she would have been laughing.

It didn't take long for Embry to find his way into Leah's head, and then one by one the rest of the pack joined him as she relayed her current circumstances through her thoughts. They would find her soon enough, for now; Leah just had to keep Victoria occupied and try not to get killed.

Leah was quick, faster than the others, they knew it too, she'd forever be bragging about it, just to annoy them. So it would be fair to say, that when Leah sprung at the nervous vampire and ripped her teeth through her arm, Victoria was not expecting it.

Victoria howled in pain and fire blazed in her eyes, she was suddenly in the mood to fight.

"BITCH!!!" she screeched.

Leah felt the thrill of adrenaline pump through her and she chuckled behind her wolfy smile.

The bloodsucker had a point.

Dodging just in time, Leah side-stepped a swipe from Victoria as the vampire lunged at her, her arms lethal.

Leah danced. She felt alive. All thoughts of not belonging, not being normal, the worries that plagued her and shattered her dreams had disappeared into the crisp night air.

Reality struck when Victoria lashed out again, this time her body slammed into Leah, throwing her hard against a fallen tree trunk. The wood splintered on impact and Leah felt the wind knocked out of her as she heard some of her ribs snap.  
She leapt to stand on all fours, ignoring the pain as ribs pierced her side like a thousand knives.

'_Hold on Leah, we're coming_' she heard Sam's voice inside her head. She could picture them running in their wolf forms across the reservation to meet her.

Leah snarled and snapped her teeth, lunging at Victoria, her teeth making contact with the pretty vampire's jaw. She held on.

The bloodsucker let out a frustrated scream and clawed to remove the wolf from around her neck.

Leah was large compared to any normal wolf standards, but she was still the smallest of her Pack, and she relied on her speed, not her strength to save her in battle.

With the force of a lioness, wild red hair spiralling about her, Victoria ripped Leah from her face and threw her against a boulder.

Leah yelped in pain as she felt her legs shatter like glass. She couldn't move.

Victoria smiled cruelly, approaching Leah with a cautious arrogance.

"What's wrong little girl? Cat got your tongue?" her bell-like laughter tinkling throughout the small glade. "Let's finish this shall we?" and she took one last step forward.

Leah didn't think she'd die like this. Not without saying goodbye to those she loved. Not alone.

She **wasn't** going to die like this!

As Victoria reached out for her, she gnashed her teeth and caught one of the vampire's fingers in her mouth. She pulled, felt the flesh ripping away from her enemies hand and tossed it across the grass.

Before Victoria had time to react, something came flying at her, knocking her across the clearing and onto the ground.

Astounded, Leah watched as one of the Cullen's, the big bear-like one, wrestled with the fiery red head.

'_Leah, are you ok?_' It was Embry. He was at her side. '_You're hurt. You need to phase so you can heal._' She looked up at him and then back to the action in the glade.

Suddenly, wolves and vampire descended on the forest like bees to honey. There was snarling and snapping in the confusion and hisses of surprise and anger.

Paul was suddenly back in his human form and words and accusations were flying through the air.

Another fight broke out. This time, it was between Paul and the bear Cullen, Emmett. Jacob and the blonde vampire stepped in to intercede. Sam disappeared into the shadows of the wood.

Leah phased back to her human form and she cried out in pain as the realization of her injuries took hold.

The one they called Carlisle, the Doctor, instantly stepped towards her, but Embry stood in front of her and growled viciously.

Leah searched the glade for Victoria, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Victoria?!" she shouted.

The fighting suddenly stopped and an undescribable wave of calm came over the two families.

Seconds later, Sam re-appeared, this time in human form. He ventured back into the clearing, casting a look in her direction.

She nodded, although in pain, she would be alright.

"Paul is right, you crossed the line," he said to Emmett, "I believe you're on _our_ territory."

"Whatever you think DOG!" Emmett spat back, "I still say we're only here for Victoria."

Carlisle raised his hands calmly in a sign of surrender to Sam, "Clearly, this close to the boarders, the boundary-line is blurred. But rest assured Sam, we were only tracking Victoria. Now she is lost to us both."

The blanket of peace continued to settle firmly on everyone's shoulders, Leah looked closely at the one they called Jasper. He had something to do with changing the charged atmosphere, she was sure of it.  
She caught the pretty blonde female Cullen, looking over her body as she lay naked and crushed in the wet grass. Leah sneered at her and Rosalie looked away. Her nakedness was another thing she liked to taunt the boys about. It was fun sometimes, being able to read their minds. All except Seth's, her little brother made it quite clear he thought her totally immature and disgusting when she embarrassed him like that. But that was part and parcel of phasing. It's not like she could carry a backpack with a spare set of jeans, bra and t-shirt on her all the time. She was used to it.

Carlisle and Sam continued to talk peace and strategies to hunt down Victoria, they were sure she wouldn't be trying to come back this way again anytime soon. After a few more minutes, the other pack members felt it safe to phase back to their human forms once they were assured that the Cullen's had left the area.

Leah was still in enormous amounts of pain, her legs throbbed and her ribs ached, whilst the others were phasing, she tried to stand to her feet.

Embry, now human, rushed back to her side, "Leah! Don't you're hurt." She collapsed in his arms.

"Let go of me," she said roughly.

She braced herself, she refused to cry. The boys _would not_ see her cry.

"No," he replied.

"Take her home Embry. " Sam said gently, "She needs to rest if she is to heal. We may heal fast, but it doesn't help to test our strength."

They each started to go their seperate ways.

"Sam!" Leah called out; she wasn't going to argue this time. He stopped with Seth and looked at her, his concern for her radiated through his expression, but he was still unsure. He'd already hurt her emotionally once, he was hesitant to get too close again.

Leah's features softened. She really had been a bitch to him for so long. After what he'd put her through, she had every right, but it wasn't his fault… not really. Leah knew she had hurt Emily as much as she had been hurting Sam, reminding him over and over again of how much he'd broken her, shattered her world. If he was in pain, Leah could hide her own behind her mask of bitterness.

"I think you'll find Victoria is missing a body part," She offered a smile and pointed over in the direction the vampire's finger had flown. "It's not really big enough for me to roast marshmallows over, but you should probably burn it anyway."

Seth grinned excitedly and went hunting for the missing finger with Sam.

The others had dispersed and Embry was casually carrying Leah back towards the reservation. Just before they cleared the trees in the forest, he stopped.

"What are you doing?" Leah raised an eyebrow as he sat her down on a large pile of rocks.

"You know you were pretty awesome today," he said, his hands on her arms, supporting her.

"Wow, you think?" she laughed sarcastically, "Of course I was, I nearly single-handily took out a crazed blood-sucker… too bad you boys let her get away" She smiled up at him, a genuine smile.

He watched her for a minute, and then returned her smile with a lob-sided one of his own before bending down and pressing his lips hard against her own.

She was shocked, utterly and completely lost in his lips as they bent passionately on her mouth and craved, no, _demanded_ her attention.

Leah broke away from the kiss, her chest heaving and in pain: What had just happened?

"You can't do that!" she breathed. She eagerly searched his face for any sign of regret, any sign that he was about to burst the bubble she suddenly found herself wrapped in.

He flashed his cheeky and playful smile, "Don't tell me what I can't do. "

She frowned. Leah struggled to process what had just happened. She struggled to understand why he would have done something so…. strange. Her lips tingled and she looked up at him.

He watched her reaction, reading her signals.

Could this… - Could this be real? - Could **he** be for real?

She thought back to all the times she lashed out in anger, in pain, in bitterness, all the boys had judged her, pitied her, but not Embry. He was always the one to pick up the pieces of her shattered heart, her broken emotions. He never laughed, never jeered, he just listened.

"I'm going to tell you to do something Embry and you better damned well do it!" she suddenly ordered, looking directly at him with her fierce eyes.

He looked nervous, just what had he got himself into?

She smiled.

"Kiss me again."


End file.
